1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally directed to a device for providing reliable prescription drug dosage reminders. The subject dose pack apparatus provides a visual reminder to patients as to when medication is to be taken. More specifically, the subject dose pack indicates both when and how to take the given medicationxe2x80x94with food, on an empty stomach, or without regard to the ingestion of food, for instance.
Because close compliance with time and dosage schedules in taking prescription drugs is quite crucial to a patient""s treatment, the subject dose pack provides an important function. This is particularly so in the case of multi-drug therapyxe2x80x94especially with elderly patients wherein both the time and manner in which particular medication doses are to be taken may vary significantly for different drugs.
2. Prior Art
Medication carrying cases and dial pack dispensers are known in the art. The best prior art known to Applicant includes U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,693,371; 5,558,229; 5,954,225; 3,126,129; 4,148,273; and, 4,223,801. Devices disclosed in such prior art, however, fail to yield the combination of features provided by the subject compliance dose pack apparatus sufficient to very simply, yet effectively, make available medication doses to a patient in accordance with even highly regimented time and dosage schedules. The devices of the prior art, therefore, fail to provide sufficient means for reliably guiding patients through the safe administration of multi-dose medications.
These are important concerns, as food-drug and drug-drug interactions are critical factors in drug treatment. A compliance dose pack formed in accordance with this invention serves to safely guide a patient undergoing even multi-drug therapy to avoid the dangerous consequences of such interactions by enabling the patient to adhere closely to the counseling and direction offered by the dispensing pharmacist or other health care professional.
A primary object of the present invention is, therefore, to provide a dosage regulation apparatus that enables a patient to closely adhere to a health care professional""s directives, and thereby safely use prescribed medication doses.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for guiding the reliable administration of medication in accordance with a prescribed time and dosage schedule.
These and other objects are attained in a compliance dose pack apparatus formed in accordance with the present invention. The subject compliance dose pack apparatus generally comprises a medication holder and a removable cover substantially enveloping that medication holder. The medication holder includes a plurality of compartments for respectively storing a plurality of medication doses to be administered in time displaced manner. The medication holder further includes for each compartment corresponding time indicia which delineates a predetermined administration time for the medication dose contained in the given compartment and corresponding auxiliary indicia which delineates predetermined information pertinent to the administration of that medication dose. The cover is marked with identification indicia pertaining to the intended recipient of the medication doses.
In one embodiment of the dose pack apparatus, the apparatus further comprises at least one overlay removably attached to the medication holder for bearing at least a portion of the time and auxiliary indicia. The overlay is preferably formed with a plurality of cutouts for maintaining open access to the compartments therethrough. Also in one embodiment of the compliance dose pack, at least one compartment of the medication holder is defined at least in part by a pouch.